Othello Community Museum to open April 25

OTHELLO — With a couple of new exhibits, a new heating-cooling system, rearranged displays and a thorough cleaning, the Othello Community Museum will open for the summer April 25. The goal, said Molly Popchock, museum board secretary, is to operate for a full season. 

“It will be open all summer, every Saturday,” Popchock said. 

Museum hours are 1 to 5 p.m. Saturdays from late April to late October.  

The museum, 250 E. Larch St., is located in what museum consultant Freya Liggett said was Othello’s first church. Its antiquated heating system limited its operating hours to summer, but even summer use was limited due to inadequate air conditioning.  

A new HV/AC system was installed earlier this year, purchased with donations. With better environmental controls, museum board members and volunteers wanted to refresh the building and exhibits, starting with some spring cleaning. 

“We were working in there doing some real deep cleaning,” said Rebecca Mohs, museum manager. “In the process of that we moved some things around.”  

Museum officials decided to rotate some of the exhibits, with two completely new ones opening this spring. The museum received a substantial donation of information and items from the careers of two medical professionals who practiced in Othello for decades. That’s one of the new exhibits. The second is a timeline detailing the history of the museum itself.  

“This community museum, like so many others, is a passion project,” Liggett said. “it’s created by the community and has always been run by the community.” 

The building was constructed as a church in 1908 and served its congregation until the late 1950s. It stood empty for a few years before it was purchased by another congregation, which in turn sold it in to the Museum and Arts Society. It opened in 1972.  

Liggett said along with church services, weddings, funerals and community events, the church served as a hospital during the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918-19.  

“It’s a center of the community and it’s always played that role,” Liggett said. 

There aren’t a lot of places for the town’s history to be recorded, she said, and the museum can be that place. 

“It’s an opportunity,” Liggett said.  

Othello residents have donated a lot of artifacts over time, and Liggett said the museum’s directors are working on an application to the Washington Historical Society to fund an internship. The primary task would be cataloging the collection, with the goal of improving access for community members.  

Mohs said she’s looking forward to the season. 

“it’s going to be awesome,” she said. 

    Artifacts from Othello’s century-plus history are on display at the Othello Community Museum, with new exhibits included for 2026.